There were loads of Aussies flying the flag overseas this Australia Day long weekend, with Schwarzer and Jones both keeping cleansheets in the FA Cup.
There were loads of Aussies flying the flag overseas this Australia Day long weekend, with Schwarzer and Jones both keeping cleansheets in the FA Cup.
Former Brisbane Roar striker Kwame Yeboah has seemingly taken little time to settle in Germany and was the first player on the scoresheet in Borussia Mönchengladbach-s 3-3 draw in a club trial. The 19-year-old fired in the opener on 11 minutes and was withdrawn at half-time as he seeks to get accustomed to Germany-s style of football.
There was a distinctly Aussie flavour in the semi-finals of the Federation Cup in India when Sporting Goa played Dempo SC. Jerry Karpeh notched the opening goal of the match for Goa, who also had former Socceroo Simon Colosimo playing in defence. Meanwhile former Sydney FC journeyman Tolgay Ozbey netted an equaliser for Dempo, who are also coached by Aussie Arthur Papas. The score finished 1-1 at full-time, with Goa prevailing in extra-time.
While we've seen two of the Griffiths boys return to the Hyundai A-League in the transfer window, Adam continues to ply his trade in Malaysia. His Kedah FA side got their season off to a great start with a 4-1 home win, where he played the 90-minutes.
Turning to England and there were a few Aussies who made appearances in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Most notably Mark Schwarzer and Brad Jones were given starts in goals for Chelsea and Liverpool respectively as they helped their sides progress.
Schwarzer found himself once again facing Premier League opposition when the Blues hosted Stoke at Stamford Bridge. The Socceroos legend showed his skills have not been stifled from sitting on the bench this season, producing a string of saves to help Chelsea through with a 1-0 win. The 41-year-old has now conceded just the one goal from his five Cup appearances for Chelsea.
Brad Jones was another beneficiary of clubs rotating their squads for the weekend-s fixtures, with the 31-year-old handed a start for the Reds. Jones certainly kept up his end of the bargain for coach Brendan Rogers, producing a fingertip save amongst his efforts as Liverpool claimed a 2-0 win on a potentially tricky road trip to Bournemouth.
Both sides have drawn tough encounters for the next round of the FA Cup, with Chelsea set to play Manchester City and Liverpool drawn to play Arsenal. Hopefully for our Aussie understudies their performances will warrant retention in what will be a couple of huge fixtures.